December 17:

1777: France formally recognized the United States.

1903: The Wright Brothers proved that powered flight was possible near Kitty Hawk, NC.

1927: U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg called for a worldwide pact renouncing war. More than 2 dozen nations would sign the Pact of Paris including the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

1936: Birthday of Pope Francis

1948: The Smithsonian Institution accepted the Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers' airplane that completed the first powered flight 45 years earlier.

1965: After a bitter election campaign, Ferdinand Marcos was declared president of the Philippines.

1979: Stan Barrett drove a rocket powered car at Edward's AFB in California to become the first person to break the sound barrier on land.

1989: Debut of The Simpsons, the longest running animated series in TV history.

1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide won Haiti's first free election.

1991: Boris Yeltsin announced that the Soviet Union would cease to exist on December 31.

2007: Birthday of James, son of Prince Edward and Sophie, youngest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II

2010: Immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi providing the catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the Arab Spring.

Short story on a significant event from Dec. 17, 1963:

https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/12/17/british-invasion-day-remembered/

Booray said:

---

Short story on a significant event from Dec. 17, 1963:

https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/12/17/british-invasion-day-remembered/

---

Good blog.... but a little confused .... but to confirm, the DJ started playing the record on 12/17..... not sure the article specified the date.... if so, I read over it!

Whatever the case, thanks for posting!

December 18:

1620: The Mayflower landed at Plymouth.

1865: The 13th amendment was ratified, thus finally abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1886: Birthday of Ty Cobb, American baseball player and the first to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

1912: The fraudulent Piltdown Man was discovered.

1913: Birthday of Willy Brandt, German politician

1915: About 20,000 Australian & New Zealand troops withdrew from Gallipoli.

1915: Pres. Woodrow Wilson married Elizabeth Bolling Galt.

1916: End of the disastrous Battle of Verdun during WWI.

1925: Prominent Bolshevik leaders Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev broke with Joseph Stalin.

1940: Adolf Hitler announced to top generals his secret plans to invade the Soviet Union despite their alliance.

1941: Japanese forces conquered American-held Guam.

1946: Birthday of Steven Spielberg, film director

1956: Japan was admitted to the United Nations.

2005: Beginning of a civil war in Chad with the rebels possibly supported by neighboring Sudan.

2008: The United Arab Emirates held their first ever elections.

2010: Protests erupted in Tunisia against the government. These protests would spread to their neighbors in the Arab Spring.

2019: Juicy Landrum set a new NCAA record for most made 3's in a single game for D1 WBB. She had 14 for 42 points.

Fat Daddy said:

---

Booray said:

---

Short story on a significant event from Dec. 17, 1963:

https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/12/17/british-invasion-day-remembered/

---

Good blog.... but a little confused .... but to confirm, the DJ started playing the record on 12/17..... not sure the article specified the date.... if so, I read over it!

Whatever the case, thanks for posting!

---

It amazing how many times you read things while editing and miss simple details. I mentioned the December 17 date at the top; I should have included in the paragraph that talks about actually playing the record. So yes, it was on the Dec. 17 that the Beatles went into heavy rotation.

December 19:


1154: Henry II was crowned king of England

1562: Beginning of the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots.

1683: Birthday of Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain

1732: Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack was published.

1776: Thomas Paine published The American Crisis. "These are the times that try men's souls..."

1777: The Continental Army entered its winter quarters in Valley Forge.

1843: Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol was published.

1900: The French Parliament voted on amnesty for everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair.

1906: Birthday of Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet dictator

1915: Birthday of Edith Piaf, French singer

1933: Birthday of Cicely Tyson, American actress

1941: Hitler took over command of the German army in an effort to overcome the Russian winter.

1945: Congress confirmed Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. delegate to the United Nations.

1959: Walter Williams died in Houston at age 117, possibly the last civil war veteran.

1972: End of final lunar landing mission.

1984: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed an agreement with Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang to return Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997 in return for a guarantee that capitalism would continue there for 50 years.

1986: Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was released from internal exile.

1998: Pres. Bill Clinton was impeached.

December 20:

1802: Louisiana Purchase: France officially transferred the Louisiana Territory over to the possession of the United States. The nation doubled in size in one day.

1836: Pres. Andrew Jackson submitted a treaty to Congress for the removal of several Indian tribes from the U.S. to lands west of the Mississippi River.

1860: South Carolina was the first state to secede from the United States.

1924: Adolf Hitler was released from prison after serving less than a year of a five year sentence for treason. This is what happens under a corrupt judicial system.

1933: The German government announced their plans to sterilize hundreds of thousands of citizens against their will because of hereditary defects. This was the first in a series of eugenics policies culminating in the Holocaust.

1938: Th first electronic television system was patented.

1941: The Flying Tigers, American pilots in China, entered combat against Japanese forces.

1943: Soviet forces stopped a German army trying to relieve the German forces besieging Stalingrad.

1948: The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it had no jurisdiction to hear the appeals of Japanese war criminals sentenced by the International Military Tribunal.

1957: Elvis Presley was drafted.

1960: The National Liberation Front was formed by guerrillas fighting the Diem regime in South Vietnam.

1963: Four thousand East Germans crossed the Berlin Wall to visit relatives under a temporary Christmas agreement.

1989: The U.S. invaded Panama to overthrow Manuel Noriega.

1995: NATO forces began peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

2007: Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest monarch in British history, outliving Queen Victoria.

December 21:

68: Vespasian entered Rome and was named emperor by the Senate.

1790: Samuel Slater opened the first cotton mill in the United States, in Rhode Island. The British dominated textile production during the early decades of the Industrial Revolution but Slater managed to sneak the designs to their industrial machinery by memorizing them thus helping to start industrialization in the U.S.

1804: Birthday of Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

1944: German forces surrounded the 101stAirborne Division at Bastogne, Belgium.

1945: Death of Gen. George S. Patton.

1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected president.

1963: The Turk minority on Cyprus rioted in protest of anti-Turk revisions to the constitution.

1968: Apollo 8 departed for lunar orbit.

1972: Formation of United Arab Emirates.

1986: Half a million Chinese students protested in Shanghai calling for reforms, including a free press.

1988: Pan Am #103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing everyone on board and 11 residents of the Scottish town below. It was the result of a bomb planted by Libyan terrorists.

1995: The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

2004: During the Iraq War, a suicide bomber attacked a US forward operating base at Mosul, killing 22.

December 22:

1135: Stephen of Blois was crowned king of England

1775: Esek Hopkins took command of America's Continental Navy which totaled 7 ships.

1807: Congress passed the Embargo Act to cut off all trade in a desperate play to keep the US out of the Napoleonic Wars. It was a disastrous failure and the biggest mistake of Pres. Thomas Jefferson.

1808: Premiere of two Beethoven symphonies, the 5th & the 6th, in Vienna. Beethoven himself supposedly described the first 4 notes of the 5th as "fate knocking on the door." It was composed after he had learned he was going deaf and had contemplated suicide.

1829: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened the first passenger railway line.

1856: Birthday of Frank Kellogg, American Secretary of State

1858: Birthday of Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer of La boheme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, & Turandot.

1877 Thomas Edison's Phonograph is announced by Scientific American

1894: Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a French military court martial, not because of evidence but because he was Jewish.

1912: Birthday of Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of Pres. Lyndon Johnson

1917: Peace talks between the Germans and Russians began at Brest-Litovsk.

1918: The last food restrictions from WWI were lifted.

1944: Surrounded by German forces at Bastogne, Belgium, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAulliffe responded "Nuts" yo the Germans demand for his surrender. Bastogne would be relieved by Patton's forces and the US would win the Battle of the Bulge.

1945: The U.S. recognized the government of Josep Tito in Yugoslavia.

1984: Bernard Goetz shot 4 teens on the NYC subway after they harassed him.

1989: The government of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania fell. Romania & Yugoslavia were the only countries that experienced any real violence during the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe because Ceausescu had ordered the army to shoot protestors. Eventually, the army refused to continue doing so and he had no support.

2001: Richard Reid, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 63, attempted to destroy the plane by lighting a match to explosives hidden in his shoes. Other passengers stopped him.

2001: President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan took over an interim government.

December 23:

1777: Birthday of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia

1783: George Washingtonresigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army. When King George III of Great Britain learned of this, that Gen. Washington was voluntarily relinquishing power, he remarked that he would be "the greatest man in the world."

1805: Birthday of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism

1888: Vincent van Goghcut off his ear while suffering from severe depression. (I know, no kidding!)

1919: Great Britain created a new constitution for India.

1921: Pres. Warren G. Hardingfreed 24 prisoners including socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs had received almost a million votes in the 1920 presidential election while in jail for violating wartime censorship measures.

1933: Pope Pius XI condemned the Nazis forced sterilization program.

1941: American forces on Wake Island surrendered to Japanese forces. They had successfully stopped an earlier invasion but were unable to do so a second time.

1947: Pres. Harry S. Truman pardoned over 1,500 WWII draft dodgers.

1948: Japanese war criminals were hanged in Tokyo.

1950: Gen. Walton Walker, commander of the 8thArmy in Korea was killed in a jeep accident. He was replaced by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway.

1952: Birthday of William Kristol, American politician and journalist

1974: First successful test flight of the B-1 bomber

1990: Slovenia held a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. It passed with 88.5% in favor.

Guessing 1927 was actually 1947. Thanks

Yes it was. Corrected.

historian said:

---

December 23:

1777: Birthday of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia

1783: George Washingtonresigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army. When King George III of Great Britain learned of this, that Gen. Washington was voluntarily relinquishing power, he remarked that he would be "the greatest man in the world."

1805: Birthday of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism

1888: Vincent van Goghcut off his ear while suffering from severe depression. (I know, no kidding!)

1919: Great Britain created a new constitution for India.

1921: Pres. Warren G. Hardingfreed 24 prisoners including socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs had received almost a million votes in the 1920 presidential election while in jail for violating wartime censorship measures.

1933: Pope Pius XI condemned the Nazis forced sterilization program.

1941: American forces on Wake Island surrendered to Japanese forces. They had successfully stopped an earlier invasion but were unable to do so a second time.

1947: Pres. Harry S. Truman pardoned over 1,500 WWII draft dodgers.

1948: Japanese war criminals were hanged in Tokyo.

1950: Gen. Walton Walker, commander of the 8thArmy in Korea was killed in a jeep accident. He was replaced by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway.

1952: Birthday of William Kristol, American politician and journalist

1974: First successful test flight of the B-1 bomber

1990: Slovenia held a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. It passed with 88.5% in favor.

---

12/23/72: The Immaculate Reception

whitetrash said:

---

historian said:

---

December 23:

1777: Birthday of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia

1783: George Washingtonresigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army. When King George III of Great Britain learned of this, that Gen. Washington was voluntarily relinquishing power, he remarked that he would be "the greatest man in the world."

1805: Birthday of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism

1888: Vincent van Goghcut off his ear while suffering from severe depression. (I know, no kidding!)

1919: Great Britain created a new constitution for India.

1921: Pres. Warren G. Hardingfreed 24 prisoners including socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs had received almost a million votes in the 1920 presidential election while in jail for violating wartime censorship measures.

1933: Pope Pius XI condemned the Nazis forced sterilization program.

1941: American forces on Wake Island surrendered to Japanese forces. They had successfully stopped an earlier invasion but were unable to do so a second time.

1947: Pres. Harry S. Truman pardoned over 1,500 WWII draft dodgers.

1948: Japanese war criminals were hanged in Tokyo.

1950: Gen. Walton Walker, commander of the 8thArmy in Korea was killed in a jeep accident. He was replaced by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway.

1952: Birthday of William Kristol, American politician and journalist

1974: First successful test flight of the B-1 bomber

1990: Slovenia held a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. It passed with 88.5% in favor.

---

12/23/72: The Immaculate Reception

---

This post was flagged. I anticipate a minimum of 30 days for you. I hope you learn your lesson.

December 24:

1166: Birthday of King John of England

1745: Birthday of Benjamin Rush, American medical pioneer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (and the U.S. Constitution)

1801: Richard Trevithick tested his "Puffer" or "Puffing Devil", the first steam powered passenger vehicle and a precursor to the steam locomotive.

1814: Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the War of 1812.

1851: A fire devastated the Library of Congress, destroying much of the collection, including Thomas Jefferson's personal collection which he had sold to the library in 1815.

1861: The USS Gem of the Seadestroyed a British blockade runner off the coast of South Carolina.

1865: The founding of the KKK.

1905: Birthday of Howard Hughes, American industrialist, aviator, and film producer

1922: Birthday of Ava Gardner, American actress

1943: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander for forces in Europe.

1956: Blacks defy a Jim Crow law in Tallahassee, Florida by sitting in front bus seats.

1963: New York's Idlewild Airport is renamed JFK Airport in honor of the slain president.

1966: An unmanned Soviet research vehicle landed on the moon.

1968: The first pictures of an Earth-rise over the moon were taken by the crew of Apollo 8 orbiting the moon.

1979: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

December 25:

??: We don't really know the date but somewhere around 6 BC, possibly on December 25 (maybe not), Jesus Christwas born--the most significant birth in all of human history.

800: Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor (the first one) at the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

1066: William Iwas crowned king of England after conquering the island a few weeks earlier.

1776: Gen. George Washington led his army in crossing the Delaware River so they could attack the Hessian mercenaries in Trenton the next morning. The surprise attack was a huge success.

1841: Birthday of Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross

1869: John Wesley Hardin, a 16 year old, shot a man dead over a card game dispute.

1870: Birthday of Rosa Luxemburg, founder of the Spartacus League which later became the German Communist Party

1914: Christmas Truce: After months of bitter fighting, a spontaneous truce broke out at different places on the Western front as German & Allied soldiers talked about families, sang Christmas songs, exchanged Christmas gifts, and even played soccer. When the officers found out about it, the quickly put a stop to it and it never happened again. But for a brief time the common soldiers on both sides remembered they were humans--and that the men across from them were as well.

1918: Revolt in Berlin

1918: Birthday of Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

1924: Birthday of Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer, creator of The Twilight Zone

1941: Bing Crosby introduced "White Christmas" to the world.

1991: Mikhael Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was dissolved.

1996: Murder of 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey.

2002: First woman to play in a Div 1 football game as a kicker.

2006: Death of James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul"

historian said:

---

December 25:

??: We don't really know the date but somewhere around 6 BC, possibly on December 25 (maybe not), Jesus Christ was born--the most significant birth in all of human history.

800: Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor (the first one) at the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

1776: Gen. George Washington led his army in crossing the Delaware River so they could attack the Hessian mercenaries in Trenton the next morning. The surprise attack was a huge success.

1869: John Wesley Hardin, a 16 year old, shot a man dead over a card game dispute.

1914: Christmas Truce: After months of bitter fighting, a spontaneous truce broke out at different places on the Western front as German & Allied soldiers talked about families, sang Christmas songs, exchanged Christmas gifts, and even played soccer. When the officers found out about it, the quickly put a stop to it and it never happened again. But for a brief time the common soldiers on both sides remembered they were humans--and that the men across from them were as well.

1941: Bing Crosby introduced "White Christmas" to the world.

1991: Mikhael Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was dissolved.

1996: Murder of 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey.

2002: First woman to play in a Div 1 football game as a kicker.

---

Merry Christmas everyone. Our family wishes you love, joy, and peace today, tomorrow, and always.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Corrected yesterday's entry with a few additions, particularly some important birthdays.

December 26:

1776: Gen. George Washington won his first major victory at Trenton when he attacked the surprised Hessians.

1786: Shays's Rebellion: veteran of the American Revolution Daniel Shays led a rebellion against the government of Massachusetts over foreclosure of farms for nonpayment of debts and other economic issues.

1820: Moses Austin, father of Stephen F. Austin, sought permission from the Spanish government to organize a colony in Texas.

1893: Birthday of Mao Tse-tung, Chinese Communist leader and dictator, founder of the People's Republic of China

1917: Pres. Woodrow Wilson placed railroads under government control because of WWI.

1944: Gen. Patton's army relieved the Allies at Bastogne. During the Battle of the Bulge, American soldiers--including members of the 101st Airborne, were trapped in the Bastogne area. Gen. MacAuliffe had famously responded to a German demand for surrender with, "Nuts!" If you haven't seen it, watch the HBO Band of Brothers miniseries or read the Stephen Ambrose book.

1944: Soviet troops encircled Budapest, Hungary.

1962: Eight East Berliners drove an armor plated bus through gates, escaping to West Berlin.

1966: First Kwanzaa, black holiday created by a professor at Cal State University in Long Beach.

1979: The Soviet Union flew 5,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to intervene in a local conflict and aid the communists there.

1982: Time magazine chose the personal computer as "Man of the Year", the first non-human to do so.

1985: Dian Fossey found murdered in Rwanda.

1990: Cory Jefferson's birthday

2004: A devastating tsunami caused by a 9.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Indian Ocean coasts of Thailand killing close to 230,000.

2006: Death of Gerald R. Ford, former president of the U.S.

December 26:

1919: The Boston Red Sox entered into a secret deal which resulted in their sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

December 27:

1571: Birthday of Johannes Kepler, German mathematician and astronomer

1822: Birthday of Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist

1831: Charles Darwin sailed from England aboard the HMS Beagle on a historic voyage that would inspire his research.

1862: Union forces under Gen. William Rosecrans left Nashville, moving slowly towards Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

1901: Birthday of Marlene Dietrich, German-born singer and actress

1932: Radio City Music Hall opened.

1941: Japanese bombers struck Manilla although it was an open city.

1945: The International Monetary Fund was created.

1947: Italy promulgated a new constitution in Rome.

1950: Resumption of relations between the U.S. and Spain for the first time since the Spanish Civil War.

1956: Tallahassee outlawed segregation on buses.

1962: Birthday of Bill Self, coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team

1968: The U.S. agreed to sell F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.

1979: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan following a Soviet-backed coup and murder of the president.

1996: Taliban forces retook Bagram Airfield during the Afghan civil war.

2001: China received permanent normal trade relations with the U.S.

2007: Assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician.

December 28:

1688: William of Orange made a triumphant march into London after the Glorious Revolution

1694: George I of England divorced his wife

1793: Thomas Paine was arrested in France.

1832: John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency.

1846: Iowa became the 29th state

1856: Birthday of Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the U.S.

1895: The first commercial movie was screened in Paris.

1927: Secretary of State Frank Kellogg suggested a global pact renouncing war. The resulting treaty would be meaningless and did nothing to prevent WWII.

1936: Benito Mussolini sent planes to Spain to support the rebel forces of Francisco Franco.

1948: Egypt's premier was assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because he did not win the war against Israel.

1971: The Justice Department sued Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks.

1973: Publication of the Gulag Archipelagoby Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

1981: The first American "test tube" baby was born.

historian said:

---

December 28:

1688: William of Orange made a triumphant march into London after the Glorious Revolution

1694: George I of England divorced his wife

1793: Thomas Paine was arrested in France.

1832: John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency.

1846: Iowa became the 29th state

1856: Birthday of Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the U.S.

1895: The first commercial movie was screened in Paris.

1927: Secretary of State Frank Kellogg suggested a global pact renouncing war. The resulting treaty would be meaningless and did nothing to prevent WWII.

1936: Benito Mussolini sent planes to Spain to support the rebel forces of Francisco Franco.

1948: Egypt's premier was assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because he did not win the war against Israel.

1971: The Justice Department sued Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks.

1973: Publication of the Gulag Archipelagoby Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

1981: The first American "test tube" baby was born.

---

I know nothing of Frank Kellogg but, he sounds like he'd fit in perfect with some today having no concept of reality.

Actually, Kellogg was pretty clever--at least in this instance. The Kellogg-Briand Pact to outlaw war was useless, but it began as a French effort to tie the US to France, enhancing their security. Aristide Briand initially proposed the idea as a bilateral agreement and then publicized it at a time when America had a massive antiwar peace movement. This placed massive pressure on Congress and the administration to "do something" even if it wasn't realistic or even in our interests. Kellogg proposed making it multilateral, thus watering down the intentions of France. It always was going to be meaningless because there were no enforcement measures and war is not going to be prevented by a piece of paper.

Ironically, it's most meaningful use was in the postwar war crimes trials against the top Nazis. This treaty was used to justify some of the charges against those criminals.

December 29:

1170: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated by 4 knights who believed they were acting on the wishes of King Henry II. This would inspire Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

1607: Chief Powhatan spared John Smith's life due to the pleas of his daughter Pocahontas.

1721: Birthday of Madam Jeanne Poisson de Pompadour, influential mistress of Louis XV of France

1778: The British captured Savannah, Georgia.

1809: Birthday of William Gladstone, British prime minister

1845: Texas became a state.

1890: The U.S. Army massacred 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

1934: Japan formally denounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 which had curbed an international arms race by limiting naval construction by Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and two other countries.

1940: A German air raid with firebombing devastated London.

1948: Josep "Tito" Broz declared that Yugoslavia would pursue its own path to communism.

1965: The U.S. observed a Christmas Truce in Vietnam while Pres. Johnson tried to convince the North Vietnamese to meet at the negotiating table.

2011: Baylor's football team defeated Washington in the Alamo Bowl, 67-56.

LIB,MR BEARS said:

---

historian said:

---

December 28:

1688: William of Orange made a triumphant march into London after the Glorious Revolution

1694: George I of England divorced his wife

1793: Thomas Paine was arrested in France.

1832: John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency.

1846: Iowa became the 29th state

1856: Birthday of Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the U.S.

1895: The first commercial movie was screened in Paris.

1927: Secretary of State Frank Kellogg suggested a global pact renouncing war. The resulting treaty would be meaningless and did nothing to prevent WWII.

1936: Benito Mussolini sent planes to Spain to support the rebel forces of Francisco Franco.

1948: Egypt's premier was assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because he did not win the war against Israel.

1971: The Justice Department sued Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks.

1973: Publication of the Gulag Archipelagoby Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

1981: The first American "test tube" baby was born.

---

I know nothing of Frank Kellogg but, he sounds like he'd fit in perfect with some today having no concept of reality.

---

He was a corn flake!

historian said:

---

Actually, Kellogg was pretty clever--at least in this instance. The Kellogg-Briand Pact to outlaw war was useless, but it began as a French effort to tie the US to France, enhancing their security. Aristide Briand initially proposed the idea as a bilateral agreement and then publicized it at a time when America had a massive antiwar peace movement. This placed massive pressure on Congress and the administration to "do something" even if it wasn't realistic or even in our interests. Kellogg proposed making it multilateral, thus watering down the intentions of France. It always was going to be meaningless because there were no enforcement measures and war is not going to be prevented by a piece of paper.

Ironically, it's most meaningful use was in the postwar war crimes trials against the top Nazis. This treaty was used to justify some of the charges against those criminals.

---

Good info. Thanks for sharing that.

IIRC, I learned much of that in a history class at Baylor!